Birrieria Don Rafa

I almost cried the birria was so good. After falling in love with the dish my husband and I decided to try 3 places in one day as a 'tour' in San Diego. Hands down their chiva/goat is the best. So tender, crispy on one side with perfect tortillas and this consume that you want to drink. Fun drinks and plenty of options to chose from (there's birria chilaquiles we're coming back to get) and they have beef birria too.

Isabella was a perfect and welcoming waitress. Cute and calm inside. Will definitely be back!

Food was great but service was not. We waited so long for everything and had to constantly remind the waiters for items.

The food is great! The service is bad. Since the girls stopped being waitresses the service has gone down hill. Be prepared to enjoy your food but being frustrated with the all men servers.

If i could give it zero stars I WOULD .
The food was good but the SERVICE SUCKEEED !! I dont know if the owner hired all his NEPHEWS AND GRANDSONS, but i would fire all of them if i want mt business running. You go in and nobody greets You,
You have to order before you sit down ? It doesnt make sense for someone who has nver gone and people are behind , 3 tortillas for 2 orders of birria so i guess u have to get one tortilla per person and share the other one. SERVICE HORRIBLE HORRIBOE HORRIBLE ! DUEÑO SI LEE ESTO , despida a su FAMILIA del negocio porque no sirvenn panadaa

This is a new birria place I tried yesterday. I got one birria taco with cheese and a side of beans and rice and an horchata. The taco and the consume was really tasty! The waitress was really nice and friendly. It was 12$ for one taco not counting the beans and rice. I feel like they is too much for a taco. The rice was super good, it's actually really hard to find food Spanish rice.  So the price, bad parking and the fact that I felt sick to my stomach driving home were why I took away stars.

It's pretty pricey for the amount of food you get.  The service sucks.  The food isn't any better than the service.  Overall, it sucked.  There's better places to go to!

Food taste good. Especially white menudo. Service sucks. Given 3 tortillas only for 2 people ordeeing 2 menudos. I guess 1 and a half each. No spoon for salsa so we used our menudo spoons. Contaminated it. Hope they throw it away and not give to next guest. The cilantro was mixed with rotten cilantro. Black pieces. Quite a bit of it. A bit pricy but gotta say the flavor was delish. We asked for more tortillas. Im still waiting for them. Im home now. Parking also suks. Probbly not come again.good luck. Pancake house next door has a long line of customers. Maybe nxt time ill pay attn to the signs. And whn u walk into this place u have to order before u are seated. So look at the menu quick because others are waiting on you to be seated.

Birrería Don Rafa review 2022-08-06
After watching Gareth Leonard's YouTube video of San Diego taco shops, we decided that today it will be Birrieria Don Rafa across from Chula Vista Mall. For first timer's like us, here are two must-knows straight away; Parking entrance is a narrow edge between Family House of Pancakes and Din Rafa's more accommodating for smaller vehicles. Next, an interesting ordering process. As you enter, you must look at the menu first and make your choices then, next to the table-placed menu is the podium where you give the lady your order. If it's your first time, it feels rushed. And with customers behind you, better be quick. It's a small "foyer" so, you may stand in the doorway holding the door open like I did. Then, after you order, you can take a seat at any available table. I ordered the Tametada de Res $12.95 and Quesadilla de maíz con birria de Res $6.99  and my #1 ordered the same Quesadilla in both ahogada and not drowned. My plate with beans also came with 4 corn birria  tortillas. These are thicker and splashed in birria juice (consumé) on the grill. For drinks we each had an Agua de temporada. (it's the green cucumber  juice). $3.50ea. So, how did it taste you ask? It was delicious. The meat is tender and a rich deep color from its juices. I added all the condiments; white onion, cilantro & hot sauce to my plate and mixed it all up before making my tacos. Before the first bite and each one after, a quick dip into the consumé. I did make 3 good tacos from my plate and the last tortilla I needed so I could clean up my plate. There are  beans on the plate but, its not a memorable serving. If you would like to order more food or drink, the servers are diligently attending their patrons so, you just ask for more. Overall, I'd agree with yelp's current 3.5/5 stars. What would make it better for me? I'd like more time to look at the menu and not wait in the tiny doorway.

Not exactly the way I remember. Something has happened to the restaurant. The food was good our last visit but today, it was just ok. The birria tatemada de chivo was burnt on both our orders and the tortillas were hard. We took one to go for the kids and what we received was just short of charcoal.

Good food. No one speaks English. The menu is in Spanish. I asked for a menu in English, the waiter just smiled. Its a little hard to order when you have no clue what the menu says. Waiter was no help